Henry V (Paperback)

Text extracted from opening pages of book: HKNRY V Queen's College, Oxfoid HENRY V BY R. B. MOWAT M. A. AND ASSISTANT TUTOR OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD ILLUSTRATED BOSTON HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY' 1919 CONTENTS I. EARLY YEARS ....... 1 II. WALES ........ 12 III. BURGUNDIAN AND AttMAGNAC .... 37 IV. THK LEGENDARY AND THE REAL HENRY ., CO V. THE ACCESSION OF HENRY V . . . .86 VI. THE FRENCH WAR, ...... 103 VII. HARFLEUR ....... 128 VIII. AGINCOURT ...... 138 IX. SIGISMUND ...... . 165 X. THE CONQUEST OF NORMANDY, . . .189 XL THE TREATY OF TROYES ..... 2H XII. FRANCE AFTER THE TREATY OF TROYES . . 238 XIII. HENRY IN ENGLAND ..... 251 XIV. THE LAST EXPEDITION ..... 261 XV. THE LAST DAYS OF HENRY V . . .,275 XVI. THE WORK AND CHARACTER OF HENRY V . 287 APPENDICES I. ITINERARY OF HENRY V . . . . * 321 II. BIBLIOGRAPHY ....... 325 INOKX ......' 331 ILLUSTRATIONS PORTRAIT OP HENRY V ( Queen's College, Oxford) FRONTISPIECE HENRY V ( Corpus Cliristi College, Cambridge) FACING PAGE 46 PORTRAIT OP HENRY V ( National Portrait Gallery) . . 98 PORTRAIT OP HENRY V ( Eton College) . . . . 1GO How EARL RICHARD BESIEGED THE TOWN OP CAEN . . 202 How EARL RICHARD WAS AT THE SMEGE OP ROUEN . .212 How KING HENRY V WAS MARRIED TO DAME KATIIERINE OP FRANCE 238 HENRY V ( Cotton MS., Julius E. IV. f. 8 b.) . . . 272 MAPS Plan of Agincourt 148 Plan of Caen 198 Plan of the Town of Rouen 200 Map of France 306 HENRY V CHAPTER I EARLY YEARS THE life of a medieval monarch was not an easy one. To maintain his position, he had to work hard and continuously. Although there are records of mis spent time, yet on the whole the history of medieval kings is one of unremitting and sustained exertion. Whetheflrfwar orin peace their life was spent in the saddle; almost their sole diversion was the furious chase of deer; almost their sole rest before death was to attend the devotions of the Church. It was only their rude hammering that kept feudal society together; and it was only a few that did not die in what we now call the prime of life, in the midst of some rough undertaking, some task of preserving order, some military expedition. Great responsibility cannot be given to anybody without great power. The medieval kings controlled the destinies of turbulent peoples with an iron hand. Therefore many of them had faults coming from their great power, their own lack of control. Yet gradually 2 HENRY V [ 1387 they led their peoples to a condition of peace in their own borders, and to a sense of national worth abroad. And some were fortunate enough to capture the sentiments of humanity, to attract the reverence and love of their own time and succeeding ages. France has her St. Louis, the strenuous though meek and kindly king. England has her kings as heroes too, good and brave men. But the blood of the Angevins, however diluted, except in Henry VI, stopped short of saintliness. Henry V in his day was held to be the pattern of a chivalrous knight: round his name has centred the romance of medieval England; in his person Shakespeare found already expressed the glory of the Elizabethan Age, the symbol of our national aspirations. The character of Henry V has many of the faults, but all the virtues of his time; and the memory of virtues is constant; his kindness and good-fellowship; his bravery and sense of justice; his unremitting industry; his piety. Henry of Monmouth was born in the castle of the town ofthat name in the west of England on 9 August, 138T, in the reign of king Richard II. Welshmen were specially pleased that a great prince was born among them. 1 Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, the father of young Henry of Monmoulh, was the eldest sur viving son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and grandson of king Edward III. He was not a 1 Fw8t EngUah Life of Henry V ( ed.' 0, L. Kingsford), 1387] EARLY YEARS 3 strong man physically, and his son, young Henry, inherited a tendency to weak health. John of Gaunt by his loose way of living shor